Activists protest outside Russian Consulate against proposed nuclear plant

KOLKATA - Scores of activists belonging to the ‘Committee Against Nuclear Plant and To Save Homes, Life and Livelihood’ staged a sit-in protest outside the Russian Consulate here on Wednesday against the setting up of a proposed nuclear power plant.

Carrying placards and shouting anti Russia slogans, the protestors demanded that the project should be scrapped.

The protestors here said the locals at the proposed site are against the plant, as they fear losing their homes to the nuclear power plant.

During the current visit of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to India, the two nations discussed the setting up of additional nuclear reactors at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu.

Russia’s Ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, on December 17 downplayed reservations about setting up nuclear reactors in Haripur, West Bengal.

Ambassador Kadakin appeared to rubbish reports of Moscow asking New Delhi to grant the former a new site in Orissa for these plants, as there was too much local resistance and ecological-related protests in West Bengal.

“It is upto the Indian side. If there is a problem, there is ecological movement, this is not our problem. We will build reactors, even in Haripur. We are not choosing the site,” Ambassador Kadakin said. (ANI)